


To Play Hide And Seek With Jealousy

by AwokenMonster



Category: Three Days Grace (Band)
Genre: Brad and Barry stir the pot, Jealous!Neil, M/M, Matt's not helping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 22:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17395277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster
Summary: "Figure out what?" Neil asked.“Figure out that you have a massive crush on Matt and he has shoved you so far into the friendzone that he doesn’t even see you giving him heart eyes.”Neil shifted in his seat. “I don’t give him heart eyes.”“And I haven’t shoved him into the friendzone”, Matt muttered, not bothering to look up from the screen.or, it's a jealousy fic; Matt has fangirls and Neil doesn't like it.Rated T for swearingNeil/Matthinted one-sided Bradam near the end





	To Play Hide And Seek With Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> Monster: Hi guys! I could've made this fic longer but there's a point where enough is enough so I'll preserve a teasing Matt for a different fic idea. Enjoy!
> 
> Title comes from To Play Hide And Seek With Jealousy from Famous Last Words but the plot of the song is not at all the plot of this fic, seeing the song is about kidnapping the one you're jealous of and letting the one you're pining for search for the body... (shudder)

“Jealous?” Brad teased, elbowing Neil just below the ribs with a massive grin plastered on his face. He knew the answer to his own question so the drummer didn’t answer, only set his jaw and glared sideways. “I will _punch_ you.”

“You can punch me but it won’t make that jealousy go away, you know”, Brad taunted him, turning to Barry as they both snickered at Neil’s misery. The blonde folded his arms, lips pursed into a tight line, and tried to ignore them. Brad and Barry were seated on the edge of the stage beside the wall Neil leaned against. They finished playing several minutes ago, fans coming and going for a picture or an autograph. It seemed like an endless crowd sometimes, but it was all worth it. They’d never be where they were today without fans. Though Neil’s head wasn’t into it. He was focused on the view on the other side of the stage. Something he couldn’t stand to watch but he’d never admit it.

His pride didn’t let him.

“You know you’re gonna have to tell him at one point, right?”

“I don’t have anything to tell”, the drummer huffed.

Brad shook his head, turning to talk to a fan who’d been trying to get his attention and Neil rolled his eyes, gazing forward again.

On the other side of the stage, Matt looked up to wave at the drummer but Neil only looked away like he’d been electrocuted. He’d been caught staring. The singer turned to face the girl he’d been talking to. She was right up Matt’s alley and the idea made Neil sick to his stomach. For one, she was legal – probably differed as much with Matt as Neil did but well… she was younger. Secondly, she had Matt’s kryptonite under her belt – on her chest actually, Matt was a fucking sucker for big boobs. She was _way_ too cute and _way_ too into Matt with a fair shot of becoming his date tonight.

“Fucking fangirls”, Neil grumbled.

Brad looked over his shoulder at him. “Yeah, he’s definitely fucking fangirls tonight”, he laughed at his own joke before he added “If you’re just gonna brood and not admit you’re into Matt, I’m just gonna keep poking fun at you.”

The fact Brad mentioned ‘being into Matt’ so casually around fans made Neil’s skin crawl so he gritted his teeth, pushing himself off the wall to stand. “I am NOT into Matt.”

“Yeah, you’re not. That’s totally why you’ve been glaring daggers at that girl.”

“Fuck off, Brad”, Neil hissed, heading into Matt’s direction through a few people. The singer lifted his head to smile politely at him, eyes darting back to the girl in a way you would greet someone who’s only passing by but Neil put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “You wanna go back to the bus soon?”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “No? I’m kinda in the middle of something here.”

“Yeah, I fucking know”, Neil made an annoyed sound. “You don’t have to point it out.”

The girl expectantly looked at both of them, a little confused by the venom in the drummer’s voice but Matt hushed her with a gentle smile. “Then why are you even asking me if I wanna go back. Like, really?” he chuckled.

Neil didn’t even hide his bitchface anymore. He didn’t bother replying and walked away, shoving Matt in the shoulder as he pushed past. “Make sure you don’t catch anything.”

He didn’t look over his shoulder but whatever Matt shouted to reply, sounded furious. _Good, I hope it ruined your night._

 

***

 

Matt slammed the door of the bus shut and stomped inside to stand in front of Neil who sat on the couch, feet on the small table. “What the FUCK?”

Barry jumped at the loudness of his voice, sitting at the table a few feet away. Neil winced at the noise but managed to mask it.

“Good morning to you too”, he muttered, pushing himself upright from his seat on the couch, feet dropping off the table. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?! You fucking cockblocked me last night!”

“I did not”, the drummer scoffed, looking mildly annoyed and bored at the same time as he remembered what went down last night. “You still went home with her.”

“I didn’t go home with her. Are you kidding me?” Matt’s voice went up a pitch. “I went out to have a drink with her but she kept fucking asking about your behaviour! I wouldn’t fucking go _home_ with her. What if she’s crazy and kidnaps me?”

“Whatever”, Neil shook his head. “If you were just getting a drink, then why are you only now returning?”

Matt shut his mouth, turning a shade of red. “That’s not the point. I don’t have to tell you.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought up the subject”, Neil stated. “Can you get out of my face now? I feel like you’re gonna sit in my lap if you get any closer.”

Barry got up, sensing the argument was slowly getting out of hand. “Alright, cut it out, you two.”

“Gladly”, Matt grumbled, stomping off to the back of the bus, earning a surprised sound from Brad when the bassist noticed his murderous expression. Neil shook his head and took out his phone but Barry was still staring at him. “Are you really gonna be stubborn about Matt?”

“What about Matt?” Neil asked, feigning innocence.

The guitarist sighed. “Never mind. Dig your own grave deeper, if that’s what you want but if you keep this up, I _will_ tell him.”

Neil shrugged the comment off but now he did feel bad about Matt. He didn’t want him to be upset or angry or whatever but yesterday just really rubbed him the wrong way and he didn’t even know why. _Yeah, you do_. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. He wanted to make it up to Matt, make him happy. He liked Matt happy. _God damn it, you’re doing it again_. He closed his eyes and tried to organize his thoughts. He didn’t _like_ Matt. It was just a stupid tiny crush cause the fucking guy decided to glow up. Just look at him. _He’s fucking hot and too cute for his own good_.

The drummer let his head fall back. “Fuck this shit.”

In the back Matt was brooding, tapping his phone screen a little too hard with pursed lips. Brad raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think touchscreen really responds to a hard touch, Matt.”

“Whatever”, the singer grumbled.

“How come you only now got home if you just went to get a drink though?” the bassist asked, having heard the conversation, and Matt clenched his jaw. “I.. uh… I passed out wasted on the floor, okay?”

Brad laughed so hard it _echoed_ through the bus and attracted Barry to come see what all the fuss was about. He entered, looking puzzled at Brad who wiped a tear out of the corner of his eyes. “Oh God.”

“What’s going on?”

The bassist shook his head. “Matt passed out cold last night! On the floor!” he nearly wheezed and Matt turned bright red. “Fuck off. Like you’ve never passed out drunk.”

“So this whole thing with Neil was mostly a bad hangover?” Barry asked. Brad looked up, making a face and trying to make a gesture at Barry that said “ _don’t!”_ but he had already asked. Matt shrugged. “I don’t know what’s up with Neil. He was acting like a dick about that girl last night. I bet he was jealous.”

“How so?” Brad asked, wondering if Matt knew about Neil’s crush on him but the singer hummed. “She was gorgeous. Neil didn’t get much female attention from anyone last night. You know his ego. Needs to be stroked all the time.”

“Not just his ego that needs to be stroked”, Barry muttered but Matt shook his head with just a hint of a smile. “Really not in the mood for jokes like that.”

“Well, I don’t think Neil was jealous of you with that girl though”, the guitarist replied, taking a seat next to Brad who looked about ready to pull out duct tape and seal Barry’s mouth closed.

“Then what was his problem?”

“Maybe the fact you were preoccupied with her?” Barry asked and Brad cleared his throat. “Maybe he expected you two to hang out or something”, he hissed, glaring at the guitarist but Barry only smiled amused. “What? Not like they’ll figure it out on their own.”

“Figure what out?” Neil asked, entering the back.

Matt made a face that told the drummer to sit anywhere but next to him but Neil ignored it and dropped down between Matt and Brad. The singer leaned away from him against the wall, phone still in hand and looked down at his screen, no longer interested in the conversation.

“Nothing”, Brad hushed him but Barry shrugged. “Figure out that you have a massive crush on Matt and he has shoved you so far into the friendzone that he doesn’t even see you giving him heart eyes.”

Neil shifted in his seat. “I don’t give him heart eyes.”

“And I haven’t shoved him into the friendzone”, Matt muttered, not bothering to look up from the screen.

The blonde turned his head sideways. “Wait, you haven’t friendzoned me? How?”

The singer shrugged. “You’re good-looking. I haven’t ruled you out.”

Brad shook his head. “Fucking first steps were made. Come on, Barry, let’s go do something else.”

“But I wanna know the ending of this”, Barry argued but Brad was already tugging his arm. The guitarist hesitantly followed. “But I just shoved them together and I wanna see the result!”

“We’ll fucking hear about it later, okay? Let them.”

Neil’s face disappeared into his hands with a sense of _Why me?_ but Matt chuckled amused. “That was such a dick move.”

“So you’re, like, not pissed anymore?”

Matt shrugged. “Jealousy is a bitch. I can understand that. Would’ve been angrier if you’d just been a dick.”

“Well, I’m not. I’m also arms, legs and a full body…”

“I know. With a crush on me. Good to know.”

Neil hummed in response. “Yeah. I guess I do have a crush? I don’t know either.”

The singer got up. “Well, you know where to find me when you do figure it out.”

“What?” the drummer called out surprised.

“I already made a move by offering you an opening. I’m not gonna let you score without doing shit”, Matt laughed, leaving the back to follow Barry and Brad.

Neil groaned. Great. Now Matt knew and he wanted him to _do_ something about it.

How the hell do you get with someone who knows about your crush. On top of that, with A GUY! Neil didn’t know to freaking _woo_ a guy! He liked to think he knew how to do so with a girl but with guys? No way, Matt was the first male he ever liked in that sense. Wait, did this mean he wasn’t even denying his crush anymore?

 _Fuck my life_ , Neil thought.

 

***

 

“You’re joking”, Brad raised an eyebrow. “You did not just ask me if my brother’s a bottom bitch.”

Barry jerked his head up, frowning at their conversation. “Neil, inappropriate much?”

Neil made a face. “I did _not_ ask that. I was just wondering if he’s like… the feminine one in a relationship or not if he’s with a guy? Gotta know if he wants me to be alpha.”

The bassist laughed. “Do you ask a vegetarian which part of their dish resembles the meat too?”

“Oh you know every relationship has a female-ish personality in it.”

“No, it doesn’t”, Barry argued. “Yours doesn’t.”

“We’re not dating”, Neil complained.

“Yet but with comments like that, you probably won’t anytime soon”, Brad teased and Neil groaned. “Fuck you.”

“Matt’s not gonna wait forever, it’s already been a week, so get your shit together and grab him. Be like Ne-Yo”, Brad commented and the drummer raised an eyebrow. “ _Be like Ne-Yo?_ ”

“You know. _Grab somebody sexy, tell them ‘hey! Give me everything tonight’_ ”, Brad could barely keep a straight face and Neil was really getting sick of this shit, even more when Barry jumped in. “You know. When I grab someone and I tell them ‘give me everything or you might not make it to tomorrow’, they don’t think it’s romantic.”

“Yeah, Neil would probably come across as a stalker like that”, Brad added so Neil decided to just fucking ignore them already. He snorted and set off to cross the distance between them and the elevator. If this was how things were gonna be today, he might as well go up to his hotel room instead.

They had a show to play today and no, Neil wasn’t sharing a room with Matt tonight. He’d been so stressed out about trying to figure out how to get with Matt in a way that wouldn’t be lame or expected, he’d panicked. When Matt looked at him expectantly, he’d grabbed Brad and gone “WE ARE SHARING A ROOM!” like some psycho before they even got their keys. Jesus, what was with him this week? It didn’t really help that Matt’s confidence went through the roof now he knew. Well, more like the singer knew how to push Neil’s buttons with it.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal Matt who gave him a lopsided smirk. “Hey.”

“Hi”, Neil replied.

“You going up?”

“Yeah.”

“Aight”, Matt passed him with a hand on his shoulder, letting his touch linger just a bit longer than what was considered friendly with an amused chuckle. Neil gritted his teeth. This was exactly what he meant. Matt fucking _knew_ how to push his buttons with it, but he would not ruin this. He’d think of something eventually but right now, he needed some distractions to help him relax. What better way to do that than to catch up on some episodes from shows he followed, right?

It wouldn’t be long before the guys would wanna check out the venue they were playing at tonight and he needed this break from this thing with Matt anyway. Plus he’d been really behind on some of these shows. With all the touring they’d been doing and then writing and recording music, he sometimes wondered how the fuck he would keep up with everything else in his life.

By the time he was on his third episode, there was a rumbling noise in the hallway. He didn’t pay much attention to it at first but it sounded like someone punched his wall. He paused the show to listen, hearing hushed voices and whispers. Female and male. Unfortunately, he recognized the male voice and he was dreading what he would find if he’d head outside. He shook his head, put away his phone and stalked towards the door, opening it.

The singer was standing right in front of his door with some girl, God knows where he found her but he’d managed to find yet another girl willing to go with him. For fuck’s sake. She was smiling up at him, had her arms around his neck. Neil cleared his throat to draw their attention. Matt glanced sideways at him with a knowing grin. This fucking prick had it planned all along.

The drummer bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. He wanted to say something but anything he could think of, sounded pathetic or desperate or fucking encouraging! Still he settled for a disturbed “I’m trying to watch a show here. Do you mind getting busy elsewhere?”

God, he sounded like a dork but Matt seemed to buy it. “Hm?”

“I can’t hear my series cause you guys are making noise. Please, take it elsewhere?” Neil explained, staring holes into the hands of the girl on his body. God, he wanted her gone so bad but he couldn’t give in to the singer’s stupid pestering. Matt hummed, let go of the girl and nodded. “I will take it elsewhere then.”

He put an arm around Neil, his hand on the small of his back. “At least she knows how to get me interested.”

The drummer could feel his blood boil. He _really_ wanted to fucking punch Matt but he didn’t. Instead he snorted. “Make sure you don’t pass out drunk on the floor.”

 

***

 

“Can you believe him?” Neil growled, staring at Matt with that same girl he’d been with in front of his hotel room. Barry shrugged. “You knew Matt wouldn’t wait forever.”

“Yeah but…”, the blonde muttered, trailing off. His jealousy was slowly dissolving into something more desperate. He didn’t want her to be near Matt. _He_ wanted to be with Matt and that thought really struck him too hard. He’d admitted he had a crush on Matt but he had never admitted he really saw himself _dating_ him. Now he did. He really wanted to be with fucking Matt!

“You know he’s just doing that shit to push you”, Brad hushed him. “He wants you to finally admit you like him.”

Neil folded his arms. “But I do like him. I mean, I wanna be with him. Like, dating him, you know. But how can I when he’s with her now?”

It was true. Matt and that girl from the hotel room – Neil refused to acknowledge her name, Matt was lucky enough he didn’t decide to call her The Leech – were dating. That leech sucking the life out of him, was his fucking girlfriend now and the word made Neil taste bile in the back of his throat. “I fucking hate this. Why did I wait so long? We could’ve been something.”

Brad shook his head. “Okay, I can’t stand to watch this. Fuck Matt’s plan but Neil, dude, she’s not his girlfriend. He’s with her to find out when you’ll finally man the fuck up and claim him!”

“Wait, what?”

The bassist moaned in irritation. “You don’t get it, do you? She’s _an actress_. She’s not his girlfriend and he’s not into her. He just wants to see how far he can push you until you mark him as yours and yours only.”

Neil raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well if he wants alpha, I’ll give him alpha.”

The drummer stalked off in Matt’s direction. Barry frowned. “Is she really acting? She’s good.”

Brad chuckled. “Like hell, but I had to lie so he’d make a move, right? I’m just sick of this game of hide and seek.”

“Damn.”

Neil neared the pair and dragged Matt back by his arm. The singer turned around surprised. “Neil, what are you-…”

The drummer wrapped an arm around him to draw him in close harshly and kissed him. The singer made a surprised sound that was drowned out by Neil’s lips. The girl made a baffled sound “Matt?!”

The singer stepped back from Neil abruptly, like he suddenly remembered the girl was there too. “What?”

“What about me?”

“You can drop the act. Brad told me this relationship is fake”, Neil commented. She stared at him confused and Matt blinked. “Uh, Brad said what? She’s not an actress…”

“Oh. Well, Matt’s mine. Find yourself a different black-haired singer. Try Adam.”

 

***

 

“You did not say that to her”, Barry stared, his beer halfway to his mouth.

Neil shrugged and swung an arm around Matt from his seat on the couch. The singer sunk back into his side. It was probably the happiest they’d both been for a while. Now that Neil didn’t have to worry about wooing Matt and Matt didn’t have to wait for an eternity until Neil would finally make up his mind. “He did. He told her to try Adam.”

“Wow, like we didn’t hear that name enough from fans already”, Brad commented, rolling his eyes.

Matt chuckled. “You’re just pissed because Walsanderson is a real thing and Bradam wasn’t.”

Brad snorted at the comment. “Yeah, that’ll be it.”

“Wait, Brad wanted Bradam to be a real thing?” Barry asked.

The bassist took a sip from his drink. “I’m not even gonna answer that.”

 “That’s an answer on its own”, the guys laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, they're our heavy fuel.


End file.
